The source material written by Jane Austen was unfinished, amateurish, the early product of a great writer, and in its original form, was actually unusable in its entirety for a screenplay, and so a new concept for the film's story had to be conceived by screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
The picture's storyline involved the discovery of a recently discovered early work by Jane Austen which is sold at auction. In reality, the genesis of the picture was the discovery of a real life early work written by Jane Austen around 1800 which had been recently sold a Sothebys Auction in London, England, and was first published in the same year as this film was released.
Actress Katrina Hodiak is the daughter of the movie's leading lady Anne Baxter with her father being John Hodiak.